[opendtv] A Competing TV Provider
- From: Monty Solomon <monty@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: undisclosed-recipient: ;
- Date: Fri, 3 Sep 2004 11:04:02 -0400
A Competing TV Provider
It uses broadcast TV infrastructure to compete with TV stations. It's
not an ISP, but its business model is unique, fascinating, and
strangely familiar.
by Gerry Blackwell
[August 27, 2004]
ISPs are not the only players hoping to muscle in on the lucrative
pay TV services market, and as start-up U.S. Digital Television Inc.
(USDTV) has shown, delivering alternative TV services over IP
networks-as inevitable as it may seem to ISPs-is not the only option.
IP is an option USDTV is considering for the future, says Bret
Westwood, the company's vice president of Internet services and
information technology. But for now, the Utah-based company is
concentrating on quite a different business and technology model.
In March, USDTV launched a consumer pay TV service in Albuquerque NM,
Salt Lake City, and Las Vegas, offering a package with multiple
time-shifted relays of 12 popular cable TV channels for $19.95 a
month. Subscribers purchase a USDTV set-top box from Wal-Mart for
$99, which also pulls in free local digital broadcasts.
The company is partnering with local TV stations, transmitting on
their unused digital broadcast spectrum and using their transmission
infrastructure. Its ambitious plan is to expand to 100-plus markets
over the next three years.
The stations subscribers get with the USDTV service include Disney,
ESPN, Fox News, The Learning Channel (TLC), and Discovery Channel.
With time-shifted transmissions and local stations, the receiver
brings in close to 40 digital channels, with image and sound quality
superior to analog and comparable to digital services from satellite
and cable companies. Some offer high definition TV (HDTV) programming
as well.
The number of channels is obviously far fewer than with cable and
satellite. Will USDTV add more? It might, Westwood says, but that's
not really the point.
...
http://www.isp-planet.com/business/2004/usdtv.html
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